Launched this fall, Bucky’s Pell Pathway meets the full financial need for in-state students who qualify for Pell grants, helping them graduate debt-free. Pell federal dollars are limited to undergraduates with exceptional financial need but often don’t cover the full cost of school, causing many recipients to take out extra loans.
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who co-chairs the Legislature’s employment relations committee, has promised to block pay raises for UW employees until the school system cuts its so-called DEI spending by $32 million.
ARepublican-controlled legislative committee on Tuesday approved 6% pay raises over the next two years for most state employees, but withheld any increase for Universities of Wisconsin staff unless the UW system eliminates its diversity, equity and inclusion positions.
Half of state workers, about 34,000 people, will not be getting pay raises included in the state budget, as a Republican-controlled committee on Tuesday approved a 6 percent raise over two years for all but those who work for the University of Wisconsin System.
In an ongoing battle between Republican legislative leaders and the state’s public university system, GOP lawmakers on Tuesday approved a two-year pay increase for state workers but left out the 41,000 people who work for the University of Wisconsin System.
State employees have been waiting to see these pay increases approved since July when they were first authorized in the governor’s budget. Public sector employees have been holding out the past three months for the approval of the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER), a committee Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) co-chairs.
At least two University of Wisconsin system schools have modified diversity offices or programming amid Republican lawmakers seeking to shut down DEI initiatives statewide.
Two events in Madison Monday included a conference on Social Science and Sustainability at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the art exhibit “Garbology: What We Throw Away” at the Overture Center’s Playhouse Gallery.
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of: Julie Underwood, former dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Education; Charles Uphoff, former member of the Oregon School Board; Randy Wendt, former police officer and school counselor in the Arbor Vitae Woodruff School District; Tom Mueller, a priest from Campbellsport; Angela Rappl, a special education liaison for Milwaukee Public Schools; Dustin Imray, a parent from Madison; and Scott Walker, a parent from Prairie du Chien (not the former governor).
Dr. Emma Mohr, pediatric infectious disease physician at UW Health, said she is encountering more families who are questioning recommended vaccinations for their kids than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. She said hearing about the development of the COVID-19 vaccines — and often the misinformation spread about the shots — has put all vaccinations at the forefront of parents’ minds.
“They say ‘oh, people were questioning the COVID vaccine and researching it. Now our doctor is offering us a different vaccine, should we be questioning this one and researching this one?'” Mohr said.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) also opposes the ban on transgender girls and women from competing in sports designated for women. And University of Wisconsin-Madison officials previously warned that the university’s teams would be out of compliance with NCAA policies if the legislation is enacted.
The bills ban transgender athletes in high school and college from competing in sports that align with their gender identities. In addition, separate legislation bans gender-affirming health care for transgender youth under the age of 18, threatening the licensure of any medical professional who provides such care.
Assembly Bill 378 would implement similar rules for the University of Wisconsin System and the state’s technical colleges. The measure would require the designation of intercollegiate, intramural or club athletic teams or sports as being for men, women or both.
Nationwide, big-name retailers and small community pharmacies are struggling to find pharmacists. The challenge to recruit more is magnified in rural areas.
UW-Madison is offering a new program to help build a pharmacy workforce in Wisconsin. It’s called the PharmD Early Assurance Program.
The bill reintroduces funding for programs that Evers had written into his budget proposal that were later removed by the Legislature’s Republican-led budget writing committee. It would extend a pandemic-era child care subsidy, establish a paid family and medical leave system and provide grants for the University of Wisconsin System and workforce development programs.
The president of Wisconsin’s university system defended a decision to spend nearly half a million dollars on a rebranding effort that changed the name and look of the state’s public universities.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz has faced impeachment threats for declining to recuse herself from a lawsuit over redistricting in Wisconsin. Robert Yablon, a UW-Madison law professor, joins us to look at the legal precedents at issue and where the case could go from here.
The University of Wisconsin System is being renamed as the Universities of Wisconsin.
It may take some getting used to but the state’s public university system will now be the “Universities of Wisconsin.”
Two bills that never got a vote in the State Senate in 2021 were reintroduced and are now up for a vote in the Legislature that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in sports designed for women at publicly funded K-12 schools, University of Wisconsin System campuses and state technical colleges.
Editor’s note: This is the second chapter of a 5-part series in which former University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson and Vice President Jim Langdon reflect on their experience guiding the system though the COVID-19 pandemic. After making a controversial decision to return to in-person classes in the fall of 2020, they discuss the innovative testing program that helped limit the spread of COVID at colleges and the communities they serve.
The public employees on capitol steps say while the DE&I aspect mostly impacts Universities of Wisconsin employees, maintaining strong state and university services means DE&I programs must be defended.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is blocking pay raises for University of Wisconsin employees unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) spending by $32 million. UW Madison student Daniel Wise says getting rid of funding for the program would be a mistake. “As a gay man myself, I just feel that it helped me be accepted at UW Madison,” Wise said.
Enrollment decline is affecting four-year colleges across the country.
Fortunately for the University of Wisconsin System, there is good news for the first time since 2014. To begin fall semester, estimated enrollment is up by 540 students systemwide.
Steven Deller studies public finance and economic development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Although he doesn’t have direct knowledge of Fast Forward, he said there are “hundreds if not thousands” of federal and state-level grants that are not fully taken advantage of.
There are two main reasons, he said: a lack of awareness and cumbersome application materials. The need to ensure government money is being spent properly creates a lot of paperwork.
“If the agency is perceived as being ‘sloppy’ handing the grants out, there is a huge political price to pay,” Deller wrote via email.
Noted: Wisconsin continues to have the largest disparity between Black and white male incarceration of any state, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The reigning Miss America is preparing to pass on her crown but not before using a bit of its glamour to give nuclear power a PR rebrand.
Grace Stanke, 21, believes the US needs to boost its atomic energy capacity and she’s not alone.
On Oct. 4, it generated heated public testimonies at the state Capitol. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is expected to veto the Republican bill if it passes committee and reaches the floor, but the bill’s introduction, perhaps ironically, does harm in and of itself, said Stephanie Budge, an associate professor in counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Research shows there’s a psychological impact of these anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Even before we consider if it passes, there’s so much harm, because it’s dehumanizing,” Budge said.
Quoted: “As seems to be the case with so many aspects of Wisconsin politics, we are in uncharted territory,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the university’s Elections Research Center.
Barry C. Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the latest fights over the state’s Supreme Court made clear that the line that once separated the justices from partisan politics had “completely disintegrated.”
“The kind of bare-knuckles politics that has defined the state for the last 15 years has now bled its way into every aspect of state political life, including the judicial branch,” he said.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the reasons they haven’t acted on the pay plan is because of Robin Vos’ allergy to diversity. So, we’ve worked with legislators in Dane County and leadership to make our case for the need for the pay plan.”
Sandra Stuttgen, a former veterinarian and current agriculture educator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said the new requirements are a part of the federal agency’s efforts to address how animal use of common drugs is contributing to the global problem of antibiotic resistance.
“As humans, if we have a condition where we need antibiotics, we want them to work,” she said. “They’re trying to protect the antibiotics that are of human significance, so it’s the drugs that humans and animals share.”
PBS Wisconsin Education, along with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education, Wisconsin Historical Society and the Wisconsin Act 31 Coalition provide accurate and authentic educational resources for educators, learners and anyone looking to learn more about the histories, cultures and tribal sovereignty of Wisconsin’s First Nations through the Wisconsin First Nations website.
Amanda Gevens, potato and vegetable pathologist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said potatoes are already generating heat heading into harvest through a process called respiration. If weather conditions raise the temperature of the tubers even further, that can make it difficult for farmers to properly cool them down for storage.
“There may not be adequate cooling air available to get control of this heat load,” Gevens said in an email. “Refrigeration is a great option to cool potatoes at harvest, although the system must have the capacity to handle the high heat load and fresh air also must be provided to purge carbon dioxide.”
Republican lawmakers again held hearings on two bills that would ban transgender girls and women attending publicly-funded K-12 schools, University of Wisconsin System campuses and state technical colleges from competing in sports designated for women.
There has been at least one openly gender nonbinary athlete who competed in the Big Ten, University of Michigan swimmer G Ryan, but there are no known instances of any playing for a Wisconsin school at the NCAA level.
Assembly Bill 378 would implement similar rules for the University of Wisconsin System and the state’s technical colleges. The measure would require the designation of intercollegiate, intramural or club athletic teams or sports as being for men, women or both.
This is the first installment of a 5-part series in which former University of Wisconsin System President Tommy Thompson and Vice President Jim Langdon reflect on their experience guiding the system though the COVID-19 pandemic.
As most state universities in Wisconsin continue to deal with declining enrollment, the University of Wisconsin-Madison received a record 63,537 applications for just 7,996 open slots in the fall 2023 freshman class.
Wisconsin’s system of 16 technical colleges has mostly recouped students it lost as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in about the same number of students last fall as in 2019.
PJ Liesch is the director of the Insect Diagnostics Lab at UW-Madison. He said the insects leave behind a sticky sap material that can lead to the growth of bacteria and fungi.
“There are some pretty significant agricultural concerns for things like grapes, hops and fruit trees. … But on most other plants, it’s probably not going to kill them, but it can be a significant nuisance issue,” Liesch said.
In a statement, UW School of Medicine and Public Health Dean Robert N. Golden and UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan said they will continue to support transgender and nonbinary patients.
“UW Health and the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health are committed to providing gender-affirming care that is evidence-based, patient-centered, and that focuses on the health and wellbeing of patients seeking the bright future they deserve,” the statement reads. “We will continue to lead clinical, research and education endeavors that allow patients to live their best and most fulfilled lives.”
“Democrats don’t have much to gain within the state by redrawing the congressional districts,” Barry Burden, a political science professor at UW-Madison and director of the school’s Elections Research Center, wrote in an email. “Doing that would, at most, tilt one or two more of the eight districts in the Democratic direction.”
The change isn’t unprecedented and stems from a case in the 1960s, according to Michael Childers, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Workers.
“What they’re basically saying now is that, if any unfair labor practice has is found to have occurred after an employer asks for an election, then they don’t need to have the election. The union will just be recognized and bargaining should commence,” he said. “That absolutely could have some impact on unions being formed in the private sector.”
UW Health has not taken a position on the new bill, spokesperson Sara Benzel said.
Access gaps, economic adversity and school segregation in Wisconsin lead to racial disparities in educational outcomes, with efforts growing to expand learning options for diverse groups of students.
On Friday, Alliant Energy announced that they had received a $30M federal grant to build a CO2-based energy storage facility in Columbia County, Wisconsin—the first of its kind in the US, and the first ever on this scale. We talk with Mark Anderson, director of the Thermal-Hydraulics Laboratory at the UW-Madison, about what the new technology means for the future of renewable energy storage in the state and beyond.
Discussion centered largely on how the officials viewed the future of Wisconsin’s public higher education system in light of enrollment struggles but also touched on diversity, equity and inclusion programming and free speech on campus.
Tom Owenby, the associate dean for teacher education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the reading bill demonstrates a renewed commitment to supporting students across Wisconsin in being able to read proficiently, which is a goal everyone shares.
“Why isn’t this being shouted from the rooftops?” asked Stanke, a 21-year-old nuclear engineering student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is too Wisconsin-nice to shout, but in more than 20 states so far she has touted clean energy and nuclear medicine at schools, nursing homes, a state legislature and once on a water-skiing podcast.
Communities affected by University of Wisconsin System branch campus closures could see millions in state assistance to reshape how the county-owned facilities are used under a GOP-authored bill circulated this week.
The Republican speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly is blocking pay raises for University of Wisconsin employees unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion spending by $32 million — a move that comes amid the Democratic governor’s calls for lawmakers to spend even more on higher education.
State Rep. Tony Kurtz, R-Wonewoc, and Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, will soon introduce legislation establishing $2 million in grant funding from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation for Richland County to help local officials plan for the future of what locals have long called UW-Richland.
Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature ignored a special session that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called for Wednesday in the hopes of passing a $1 billion package that would keep a pandemic-era child care program running, send more money to the University of Wisconsin and create a paid family leave program.
It would also provide up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for Wisconsin workers starting in 2025 at a cost of $243 million, and would give UW an additional $66 million.
That money would give UW a boost after the Legislature cut its budget by $32 million. On top of that, Vos said last week that he won’t approve pay raises for UW employees that were included in the state budget unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The University of Wisconsin System has to eliminate diversity and equity positions or sacrifice 6% pay raises over the next two years that were initially authorized in the budget Gov. Tony Evers signed this summer, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said.
Evers’ plan would funnel $66 million toward the UW System following a bruising budget season that included a $32 million cut. The $32 million is what Republicans identified as going toward diversity, equity and inclusion spending at universities over two years. A veto by Evers allowed campuses to absorb the cut while saving DEI positions.
The Republican speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly is blocking pay raises for University of Wisconsin employees unless the university cuts diversity, equity and inclusion spending by $32 million — a move that comes amid the Democratic governor’s calls for lawmakers to spend even more on higher education.
University of Wisconsin System employees may see no bump in their paychecks this year despite 4% raises already being funded in the state budget.
The positive numbers come at a time when UW continues to fight with the Republican-controlled Legislature over funding and GOP opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Legislative leaders have also yet to implement a pay raise for UW and state employees that was approved as part of the state budget.
